I have tasted this beautiful wine twice.
Once over a Sunday lunch, which consisted of roast Gressingham duck, and again
over dinner with friends from Moncharm at a
restaurant, accompanied by rib eye steak. The wine tasted consistently over
both tastings although I personally think that the Gressingham duck was much
better company for the Pavie than rib eye steak because the spiciness of the
Pavie complimented the gameness and richness of the Gressingham duck perfectly. A simply stunning
combination.
At first the Pavie tasted very bold and
upfront in the glass, almost like a
Pommerol. It was massive and very complex. The nose was of huge fruit and cherries.
The colour was unbelievably dark and the wine itself was so rich and
concentrated it was almost port like. After a good few hours in the decanter
,the Pavie had evolved marvellously into a very sophisticated wine that was
really starting to show its elegance and
had shrugged off the upfront style it was showing when first opened. It was
starting to show its finesse.
The nose was showing an earthy spice,turmeric and garam masala. It should also be noted that at 13.5% this is extremely alcoholic for a bottle of Bordeaux.
On the palate the wine has a lovely
herbaceous taste with raspberries, raisins and a slight smokey feel which, as I
said earlier, complimented the duck so well. It is so concentrated it is almost
treacle like and oh! so sweet. Everything is in balance here and I only assume
in years to come this wine will get better and better.
All in all a simply stunning bottle of wine
that I will definitely drink again at some point if I am lucky enough, the
taste simply lingers on the tongue. However to get the best out of the bottle I
would recommend opening at least 4 hours prior to consumption.
Note: In accordance with floydtp’s notes on
cellartracker.com I agree these have been the toughest
tasting notes I have written to date as the wine simply keeps evolving in the
glass almost continuously. It will be really interesting to have a glass in 20
years’ time.